Ready To Learn Programming
Funds public telecommunications entities to create and nationally distribute educational television, digital media, and outreach materials for preschool and elementary children and their families.
⚑ Applicant must be a public telecommunications entity; public universities are not eligible unless they qualify as such. · Consortium/group applications by multiple public telecommunications entities are allowed under ED group-application procedures. · Funds creation and dissemination of educational media content and local outreach, not research.
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 20 weak | prototyping/demonstration stage |
| IPPRA | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 15 none | university cannot apply directly (ineligible) |
Description
Description: RTL is designed to: (1) promote school readiness and academic achievement through the development and dissemination of accessible instructional programming for preschool and elementary school children and their families; (2) develop and disseminate programming and digital content containing Ready to Learn programming that is specially designed for nationwide distribution over public television stations’ digital broadcasting channels and the Internet; and (3) Produce educational outreach materials and programs that are designed to deepen and extend the effectiveness of the educational television and interactive. RTL accomplishes this by providing grants to support the creation of nationally distributed educational media content that meets the highest standards of educational quality. RTL television and digital media products focus on developmentally appropriate curriculum frameworks that align with widely accepted learning standards.
Eligibility
To receive funding under this competition, an entity must be a public telecommunications entity that is able to demonstrate—(a) A capacity for the development and national distribution of educational and instructional television programming of high quality that is accessible by a large majority of disadvantaged preschool and elementary school children; (b) A capacity to contract with the producers of children’s television programming for the purpose of developing educational television programming of high quality;(c) A capacity, consistent with the entity’s mission and nonprofit nature, to negotiate such contracts in a manner that returns to the entity an appropriate share of any ancillary income from sales of any program-related products; and (d) A capacity to localize programming and materials to meet specific State and local needs and to provide educational outreach at the local level. Note: If two or more public telecommunications entities wish to form a consortium and jointly submit a single application, they must follow the procedures for group applications described in 34 CFR 75.127 through 75.129.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: Jennifer F Todd Grantor <Readytolearn@ed.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · HHS services agencies (SAMHSA / HRSA / CDC / ACF) conventions SEE AN HHS EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — HHS services agencies (SAMHSA / HRSA / CDC / ACF)'s document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.
Legacy IPPRA LLM assessment (v2.0, for comparison)
0/100 · gpt-5.4-mini · 2026-07-06
This is an educational media production grant for public telecommunications entities, not a research opportunity. It does not align with IPPRA’s portfolio areas or its core strengths in survey research, risk communication, behavioral interventions, or policy analysis, and public universities are not eligible applicants under the stated rules.
Legacy scoring history
| 2026-07-06 | 0 | gpt-5.4-mini | This is an educational media production grant for public telecommunications entities, not a research opportunity. It does not align with IPPRA’s portfolio areas or its core strengths in survey research, risk communication, behavioral interventions, or policy analysis, and public universities are not eligible applicants under the stated rules. |
| 2026-07-06 | 0 | gpt-5.4-mini | This opportunity is for public telecommunications entities to create and distribute early-childhood educational media, not for research on policy, behavior, risk communication, or any of IPPRA’s five portfolio areas. A public state university could not apply directly unless it were itself a qualifying public telecommunications entity, so this is ineligible for IPPRA as a funding opportunity. |